Some 50 members of the LA No More Jails Coalition protested outside the Hall of Administration just hours before supervisors were set to vote. The county’s Department of Public Works requested that the Board postpone their decision.

The proposed jail at the corner of West Avenue I and 60th Street would occupy a 46-acre portion of an already existing Mira Loma Detention Center, which is now vacant. Some buildings would be demolished to create a new facility to include 1,604 beds for low- to medium-security female inmates.

The old facility was once used for women inmates before it was shuttered, then reopened in 1997 by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE to house undocumented immigrants until 2012.

Protester Selena Coleman said she was an inmate at the old Mira Loma facility in the early ‘90s. She served a 17 day stretch on an assault charge. During that time, Coleman’s husband and children lived in Long Beach, too far, she said to receive visits. And while she served time, her daughter died of sickle cell anemia. Coleman was too far away to be taken to the hospital to see her child, she added.

“It was a hardship to trek to Mira Loma,” Coleman, 46, said.

A report released Monday by the group Californians United for a Responsible Budget highlighted much of the concerns, including that the proposed jail would be opened in an area where Valley fever is more common. Valley fever is caused by fungal spores in the soil. The fungus enters the body through the lungs, and can cause cold and flu-like symptoms. Although rare, it can be serious, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

There were 108 cases in Los Angeles County in 2014, an increase from the year before. Most people infected were from the Antelope Valley and parts of the San Fernando Valley, according to recent figures by the Department of Public Health.

“This report details the long history of the prison and jail systems’ total disregard for the environment and for the health of incarcerated people,” said Kim McGill with the Youth Justice Coalition in a statement. “This report draws attention to the severe health hazards that come along with imprisoning people in environments where they are forced to drink contaminated water and breathe infected air, adding to the endless list of reasons to not move forward with this disastrous jail project.

The Board of Supervisors voted last year to finalize plans for Mira Loma as part of a nearly $2 billion plan to update the county’s jails, including the Men’s Central Jail. Mira Loma would replace the women’s jail in Lynwood.